http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/13/business/main2253330.shtml
The world's largest investment bank reported a staggering profit of $9.4 billion and revenue of $37.67 billion for its fiscal year thanks to record takeover activity and a robust stock market.
Goldman said it was dedicating $16.5 billion for salaries, bonuses and benefit at the end of the year. This translates to an average of $622,000 for each employee, though the biggest payouts are given to top investment bankers who bring in the huge deals.
CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts reports that experts say top executives at the company will earn as much as 20 to $50 million each in bonuses.
This is in all the papers and all over the news here in the US. And they’re saying, oh, look how generous this company is, aren't they wonderful? The trouble is none of these news outlets are asking a more fundamental question: how did they make this money? Legally, yes. Ethically? I challenge it. I challenge the people at Goldman Sachs and any of the other Wall Street firms to show how they made their money. These people do not make it a better world. The people on Wall Street are not interested in having the average American’s quality of life improved. These are some of the most maniacally defective human beings on the planet. Pure greed. They would do anything, say anything, in order to make a buck. The entire concept of Wall Street is based upon greed.
Here’s the stock market at an all time high, and yet we have more middle-class Americans with less savings, more debt, more pressures, more stress, than ever before. I was in a drugstore the other day and the girl behind the counter was having trouble counting my change. I asked if I could help, and she said, no, “I’m just not getting any sleep.” I said, “Why is that?” “Well, when I leave here I go work at two other jobs.” I said, “you’re working 16 hours a day?” She said, “I have to, in order just to make ends meet. And when I get home at 11 at night, I’m so tired that I just fall into bed, and I can’t always sleep.” This was a 24-year old girl. And what I want to know is: why don’t we hear about their bonuses? Why don’t we see what it’s like to be the average working-class American?
So this kind of ritual each year of showing how much these lizards made and what they’re spending it on, why don’t at same time go into Middle America, go into Detroit, Flint, Akron, Kansas City, go into Duluth and Buffalo, and say, “and how are you doing this year?” That’s a story that would have a different ending.
The world's largest investment bank reported a staggering profit of $9.4 billion and revenue of $37.67 billion for its fiscal year thanks to record takeover activity and a robust stock market.
Goldman said it was dedicating $16.5 billion for salaries, bonuses and benefit at the end of the year. This translates to an average of $622,000 for each employee, though the biggest payouts are given to top investment bankers who bring in the huge deals.
CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts reports that experts say top executives at the company will earn as much as 20 to $50 million each in bonuses.
This is in all the papers and all over the news here in the US. And they’re saying, oh, look how generous this company is, aren't they wonderful? The trouble is none of these news outlets are asking a more fundamental question: how did they make this money? Legally, yes. Ethically? I challenge it. I challenge the people at Goldman Sachs and any of the other Wall Street firms to show how they made their money. These people do not make it a better world. The people on Wall Street are not interested in having the average American’s quality of life improved. These are some of the most maniacally defective human beings on the planet. Pure greed. They would do anything, say anything, in order to make a buck. The entire concept of Wall Street is based upon greed.
Here’s the stock market at an all time high, and yet we have more middle-class Americans with less savings, more debt, more pressures, more stress, than ever before. I was in a drugstore the other day and the girl behind the counter was having trouble counting my change. I asked if I could help, and she said, no, “I’m just not getting any sleep.” I said, “Why is that?” “Well, when I leave here I go work at two other jobs.” I said, “you’re working 16 hours a day?” She said, “I have to, in order just to make ends meet. And when I get home at 11 at night, I’m so tired that I just fall into bed, and I can’t always sleep.” This was a 24-year old girl. And what I want to know is: why don’t we hear about their bonuses? Why don’t we see what it’s like to be the average working-class American?
So this kind of ritual each year of showing how much these lizards made and what they’re spending it on, why don’t at same time go into Middle America, go into Detroit, Flint, Akron, Kansas City, go into Duluth and Buffalo, and say, “and how are you doing this year?” That’s a story that would have a different ending.
